Pressing on to Christmas

Somewhere along the way of my life, I decided most of the emails I sent would end with the phrase "Pressing on." I actually remember specifically why I decided that would be my tag line. Part of it was because everyone had a tag line, and it just seemed that if one was really religious, one had to have a religious tag line. I flirted with different lines: Go Canucks (no Stanley Cups, God obviously doesn't cheer for them) , Traveling On (to where?) , Shalom (effective, but overused), Pay it Forward (cliche), Vengence is Mine (scare tactic that doesn't seem missional), but nothing seemed to work. But I also remember where and when I grabbed "Pressing On" and made it my patented line.

Back in my pre-job-I-have-now-life, I had a completly awful, terrible day. The day where I was convinced the Lord should smite the world of all adolescents, where some Old Testament justice would be perfectly fine with me. 'A plague on all those 13 year old kids' houses', I thought to myself, 'and not just one, hit 'em all Lord, and hit 'em hard.' As I shared that miserable day with a dear friend, Darcy, he encouraged me as I left his office; "Press on, Beim, press on." Thus the departing and encouraging words were born to many-a-email.

But sometimes, those greetings and cute phrases drive me crazy. People use these little words like cheap bumper stickers, and maybe if I knew the story I'd probably have more patience. Some people end their emails with latin phrases that I imagine are important, but I'm never sure. I figure they must be smart if they know Latin. Others say things like "In Christ" or "Through Christ", "For Christ", "Pax Christ" and the list goes on. Yes, I know, I am now one of those people. (Note: One thing I do know is that those all have a different meaning than the guy I played hockey with last night who kept screaming "Jesus Christ" every time he missed a shot; sadly, I laughed every time he said it).

But then there was one person I knew who always ended his emails, his letters, and his conversations with "Merry Christmas." It would be the middle of June and he would say "Merry Christmas" and I always refused to give him the satisfaction of asking him why. Yes, folks, spite has carried me a long way in life. Blazing heat, middle of summer, just done a great golf game (great golf game being a very subjective definition), and all I would get was a "Merry Christmas." Honestly, the guy was just pissing me off with his winter greeting in June.

And I was jealous.

I mean, how do you argue with "Merry Christmas" in the middle of June. One complaint about Christmas is that sometimes I wish no one would have decided on Jesus' actually having a birthday. All this hype, both commercial and religious, all building towards this great crescendo on December 25. And besides, I remember thinking, it isn't even his real birthday anyways! And once December 26 comes along, the birthday party is over, the clean up begins, and we spend the next week going through our 12 step Christmas recovery program (hello, my name is Beim, and I overspent again!). And here comes this guy, who grabs hold of this phrase, and makes sure everyone knows that this is something we need to be celebrating every day of our lives. That with the birth of Christ, nothing would ever be the same again, ever.

And so maybe what really got in the way for me was that this guy was right.

That with the baptisms and professions of faith last week in our Gathering Place, with the impending birth of our child in February, with the broken but beautiful teenagers I teach everyday, we see that the Christ-child is alive and well and all around us. And maybe we need to remind ourselves in January and Februay that the nativity scene in December was the beginning, not the end. The beginning of a wonderful, unfolding story that we are characters in, and that we have a role to play in this story.

Finally, some words below that I received on a Christmas card from some dear friends who live far away but are close to my heart. Words that gave birth to what I wrote, and words that remind me that "Merry Christmas" does work, should work, will work, every day of our lives. Thanks, Joel and Ella, for the humble reminder, and keep pressing on.


"Perhaps the hardest thing to remember about Christmas is this: it celebrates the incarnation, not just the nativity. The incarnation is an on-going process of salvation, while the nativity is the once-for-all-historical event of Bethlehem. We do not really celebrate Christ's 'birthday', remembering something that happened long ago. We celebrate the stupendous fact of the incarnation, God entering our world so thoroughly that nothing has been the same since. And God continues to take flesh in our midst, in the men and women and children who form his body today. And the birth we celebrate is not just the past historical event but Christ's continuing birth in his members, accomplished by the power of the spirt thorugh the waters of baptism."
-Source Book 1996